MWF Insider sent this in:
This Friday, the wrestling world lost one of the all time female greats Luna Vachon. Take a look back to her 2009 Cauliflower Alley Club award speech.
BULLSMC sent this in:
From : http://www.declarationofindependents.net/doi/pages/miclunarip.html
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Luna Vachon
The Reason Why You Never Saw The Diva Killas Again
Running the DOI & WSU together for the last 3+ years has been a tough ordeal, as it is tough to wear different hats. This article I will be wearing both hats as I describe my encounters with Luna Vachon and talk alot about WSU stuff. While the purpose of this is to remember Luna Vachon, it is also an inside look at WSU for WSU fans as well. I know I’m all over the place with this, but I just decided to write for a bit and see what came out. Sorry if it’s too long for some of you out there, but I promise it’s worth taking 10 minutes out to read. I hope you enjoy it.
Also, I didn’t want to write your normal obituatary piece on just Luna. Luna helped my company out a lot, and I feel for WSU and women wrestling fans, she deserved more than just your copy/paste obit that people take from her Wikipedia page. I also hope you realize this is not just your standard remembrance piece, as I am trying to make this come off more like a personal blog. I am saying this because I don’t want this to come off as a plug for WSU, which is why I’m trying doing it in this blog
atmosphere. However, the fact is, I dealt with Luna because of WSU and I haven’t written anything in a while, so here’s my latest contribution to the DOI as I talk about one of the all time greats in womens wrestling, Luna Vachon:
I was luckily enough to deal with Luna Vachon during WSU’s inception in 2007. During that time I got to know Luna a bit, especially during a shoot interview
we filmed. The shoot wasn’t that great because Luna was sick and as she’d tell me off-camera, dealing with substance abuse problems. It is something I could
understand, and I offered to just do the shoot another day, but Luna wanted to keep going.
When we first launched WSU back in March of 2007, there wasn’t much going on womens wrestling wise. In this area, April Hunter was the long standard bearer
and booked to seemingly win every womens title in the northeast. I didn’t want WSU to be like every other indy and do the same thing. April would leave the
area anyway to pursue other career interests.
Promotions like WEW and DWOW were around, but because of all the sex/oil wrestling stuff they did, they were never taken to be a serious womens wrestling
company. They did put on good matches (and still do when it’s the right people), but it was too far and in between. DWOW was always canceling all the time,
and how many times can you see the Smoke & Steve The Sound Guy vs GI Ho? I’ve never been a fan of promoters who wrestle on their own shows anyway. WEW was a
bit bigger, but all the dumb sex stuff, in my opinion, weighed it down. How can I take anything seriously there, when everything leading up to your main
event is tampon jokes and oil wrestling? Don’t get me wrong, that is their business and I understand why that would sell, but as far as taking anything
serious, come on. Not that I think they were looking to be taken serious anyway.
There was no full-time womens wrestling company in this area at all. The only thing really around was Shimmer, but to me, they were on the other side of the
scale, where everything was just straight matches, with no angles, no storyline development, and no character builds. Even to this day, I can’t think of one
Shimmer match that was promoted heavy going into it. The matches are great there, but I have never felt inclined to really see anything. Even their world
title changes just happen, with no build or story behind them. I was always a fan of the story first, and great wrestling second, growing up. I mean we can
all remember Hogan/Andre, Hogan/Savage, Hogan/Warrior, well at least you can if you were from my generation, but I can’t tell you every spot of two japs
going at it. Matches that had great builds going into them are always remembered more fondly than 5 star matches, in my opinion. We can remember the Hogan
stuff, the Austin stuff, the Rock stuff, and more importantly all that stuff drew big money, but promoting matches with nothing behind them seems ignorant to
me.
So when we first started doing WSU, I knew I wanted to do a mix of everything, so there was something for everyone. Maybe it’s me, but to me, a credible and
entertaining world (or heavyweight, whatever you want to call your top belt) champion is the first piece that needed to be built up. I think it’s obvious
that WSU wise, I still believe that to be true to this day, and the body of work that Alicia, Angel Orsini and Mercedes Martinez did wonders to make the WSU
World Title mean something. If nobody cares about the top title, than what the . is everyone fighting for anyway?
Like most indies, WSU started with a shoe-string budget, so obviously our top champion would be a local. At that time, Alicia, who I had the pleasure of
seeing grow from a nervous happy-go-lucky babyface, was just about to hit her stride as a heel you can really build around. I know I am talking in terms as
if this is all a serious and national thing, so if you’re rolling your eyes reading this, please realize I know this is indy wrestling, but the same
principles apply. We weren’t making millions obviously, but we were turning a healthy profit, so that’s how I knew things were working. Of course on an
aside, you could say that half the people who buy WSU or any womens wrestling are buying them for other reasons than the wrestling, but that’s something you
accept and hope you can hook them with the wrestling too.
Anyway, Alicia was working mostly for JAPW, but obviously JAPW doesn’t know their ass from their elbow when it comes to booking anything. Everything is just
thrown together. The promoter there made some dumb jokes to her and I don’t think the promoter there saw that Alicia could help his company nor saw how he
could make money with Alicia. I think all he saw was moose jokes, but I guess sadly, that is to be expected from that person. I do think Pierre, one of the
guys in that “office”, for lack of a better word, at that time did, but for the most part, Alicia was just there and had no direction or any angles. Not to
pat WSU on the back here, I think that’s why when Alicia had her “last” match and then made her return, she did it for WSU.
Alicia, even to this day, has a strong fanbase. She is a great entertainer and someone who gets it and for me, could headline. Her detractors will say that
she’s not a Mercedes Martinez or a Sara Del Ray work rate wise, but for Alicia she didn’t need to be. She has always been a good character and could tell a
story. If it wasn’t for her, WSU would’ve never taken off, and she was able to make everything feel important. We watch wrestling to escape reality and to
get hooked into the story, just like a movie, and for me and apparently a thousand or so fans who were buying the DVDs and watching the shows, Alicia did
that.
So with that in mind, I knew when I started WSU, we were going to build around Alicia and make her the top heel. I figured the best way to start was to have
a strong heel champion and just build up babyfaces and just to try to sell chases. The only thing was, I needed a great babyface to cement Alicia as a
serious wrestler and get Alicia over. I knew Alicia could pull it off, because even though the place was a joke and just for fun, when I was doing SSCW in
2003/2004, we did the first Alicia heel turn there and the quality of Alicia’s stuff went way up.
I knew I needed someone that not only would be a good local draw, but someone who would help sell DVDs. Eric Simms, as much as I like to bust his jew balls,
is always 100% reliable and easy to do business with, except the rash he leaves on you when he leaves. Seriously though, when it comes to booking any talent
that you might not know or any “legend”, Simms always comes through. It’s why he’s lasted so long in this business. I can’t believe it’s 2010 and I’m giving
Eric Simms endorsements, but for real, when it comes to getting shit done, Eric always delivers.
So after talking to Eric for a bit, I decided I would try to get Luna Vachon, with it being understood she’d be putting over Alicia over. Thankfully, Luna
knew who Alicia was. I know it sounds marky to say, but you will be surprised (not in WSU, as I never had this problem here) what “name” talents do not want
to do jobs or put people over. I can understand there are exceptions for every case, but really, the money is the .ing same. I mean yes, there are some
indy promoters who have no .ing clue what they are doing, but a lot of them do. No one is trying to sabotage their product when they ask people to do jobs,
they are trying to make their company as profitable and as good as they see fit. I mean if I asked Mercedes Martinez to do a clean job to say a Rick Cataldo
in WSU, I could understand why I would get slapped and be refused, but for the most part, promoters when they use names, are using names to get the locals
over. It’s been going on forever.
After dealing with Eric, Eric promised Luna would be there for our second show, so we started promoting Alicia, who was really getting into the prime of her
indy career as a heel vs Luna vachon. Obviously, Luna would be the big babyface. However, I didn’t know what Luna Vachon was going to show up, would it be
the TV name who just wanted to do one bump and collect their money, or someone who really wanted to believe in what we were trying to do. I mean, there are a
million indy bookings a year for name talents, and if you think people work just as hard in every single company, you are out of your mind.
So it was 5/5/2007, and as promised Luna showed up. Luna started asking me questions right away about the company and thought it was cool what we were trying
to do here. Luna was always a big proponent of womens wrestling, and as I would learn later from talking to her away from the shows, she was always depressed
and felt rejected about never getting the light shone on her. Even to her last days, she was always upset about having to be the one to make Sable a star.
Don’t get me wrong, Luna did not care about putting Sable over business wise, she was just upset that it was the blonde bimbo stereotype that was going to be
the face of womens wrestling and not a credible wrestler. If Sable could work, Luna would’ve never had any gripes. In a way, Luna saw that the womens
wrestling days of her, Sherri Martel, Madusa going to the wayside, in favor of the model type. You see that a lot today. Hopefully without blowing up
anyone’s futures or upsetting anyone currently, that’s why people like Angel Orsini, Mercedes Martinez, Alicia, Amy Lee, Nikki Roxx and others are on the WSU
roster today and not former WWE women champions. I think that is why Luna gravitated to what we were doing, and was always liked by everyone (well maybe
except for two girls, but more on that later.)
For Luna, womens wrestling was a privilege. She had to earn it, just like many girls you see on the WSU or even the Shimmer roster. She did make some
sacrifices to get to that spot, and some of the girls you see on the indies have done the same, whether it’s cosmetically, getting their balconies upgraded
or starving themselves like Ethiopians. In a sad way, wrestling ability is usually the last thing WWE looks for when signing a womens wrestler.
I mean, a lot of people will read this and just totally blow this off, but I’d really recommend the Mildred Burke book that is out there. It is .ing
phenomenal, and the author did a great job of explaining the history of womens wrestling. This has always been a male dominated business. Most women had to
. to get in or get their spot, including Mildred herself. There are even horror stories about Terry Funk out there, but of course some of those stories
will never see the light of day. But then again, Moolah could of been accused of being just as guilty herself…
Anyway, the point is, Luna had to kick, claw and scratch to prove herself in this business. It was even harder for her personally because of her last name.
She carried a brand name and she could not be weak. She had to be that much more tougher to prove that she was a Vachon and prove that she belonged. She
couldn’t rest on being a Vachon, she had to earn that name through hard work and dedication.
Luna would find a lot of career success, as she was most famous for her work in the WWF during her three stints there. Despite whatever problems she may have
had and had to deal with, she was always brought back. On the independent level, the people you meet on your way up, are the same people you meet on your way
down. To go on an aside here, one of the reasons so many of these former WWE stars are dying is because you get to live a certain lifestyle. When it’s taken
away from you, the reality is you feel like a broken down horse. Now what? You gave the prime of your life to a wrestling company. The big spending and big
living days are now over. Instead of having catering, doctors, and an agent at your job, you have a dollar for a crappy hot dog at the concession stand, a
bottle of pills and an indy promoter dealing with way too much the day of the show. Instead of big arenas, pyro and huge screens, you’re rolling around at a
VFW and have to work so much harder because the matches underneath you usually feature ring crew guys or ticket sellers. It’s a major shock.
When I met Luna, I obviously met her on the way down, career-wise. However, when she saw what we were doing, and what we were trying to accomplish, she
seemed really happy about it. Luna was glad that we didn’t have the model types on the show, and were just focusing on a fresh crop of faces. Obviously, this
was just an indy company with a questionable future, but for that point in time, Luna was happy to see a wrestling company dedicated to women wrestlers who
had freedom to do whatever they could to get over.
Luna immediately bonded with people in the locker room, especially Alicia & Amy Lee. Of course it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine, as while Luna was happy,
she was also asking me if I had pills for her. She said she had a bad flight and her back was acting up. I’m not a wrestler, but I understand that if someone
is going to go through a physical match, they might want relief from all the bumping going around. I didn’t have anything on me, but Luna did get it from
somewhere else and then promised to put on a great match because she knew she could move better now.
When it came time to go over Luna and Alicia’s match, Luna said she’d take care of it. She understood what WSU wanted as a company and understood the reason.
You can check out the WSUVideo.com website for this DVD or in fact you can check out
WSU Presents Extreme which is a compilation we just released
with two Luna matches, to see Luna kick ass.
Luna understood that I didn’t want to just do hair pulling women’s stuff, but that I wanted to show that the women can do the same stuff the men do. It’s not
every day you get to see two women kick the shit out of each other in a crappy little Elks Lodge. I wanted WSU to be different than whatever else was out
there.
Luna and Alicia would have a wild main event match. They brawled all over the building, went through tables, hit each other with shovels, threw each other
into chairs, and just went insane. However, at the end, it was Alicia winning the match with her finisher. Alicia’s finisher, after everything we saw, was
the move that put Luna away. From that point, WSU was rolling. We had our credible heel who could talk and back it up. We had a babyface who came so close to
winning that fans wanted the rematch. Luna did a big favor for WSU and Alicia’s career that day. Not every veteran would’ve done the crazy match and then put
Alicia over cleanly at the end.
After the match, Luna was smiling and said she wanted to do this again. When I told her what Eric Simms was charging us, she said to go through her directly.
She understood that this was indy wrestling and it’s hard to keep bringing back the same TV names all the time, especially when a flight and hotel are tacked
on too. Luna gave us a pretty good discount, so we decided we would bring her back for our 7/14 show, where we would crown our first champion.
After the show was over, we did the aforementioned shoot interview, where Luna would open up on and off camera. I think that is why she appreciated a place
like WSU, because she was never happy with the way womens wrestling was presented on the biggest stage. Girls were given contracts based on Diva searches.
The long hard road Luna went down, and not just Luna, but wrestlers male and female of her generation, were the last of a dying breed, where you went through
territories and toughened up. Now, most of the girls you see on WWE TV got their jobs based on what Playboy magazine they were in and how good they tan.
It was also during that time that I found out that Luna just became a grandmother. I couldn’t believe she did the show after finding that stuff out. Luna
said she was old-school and would never miss a booking. Now you got indy wrestlers who miss shows because they got a boo-boo or because they got tickets to a
baseball game, where here was Luna coming to a place she was never at before, the say after her grandson was born. Just amazing.
As someone who was around Frank Goodman a lot, I learned some things on what to do, and some things on what not to do, when running your own show. This is
indy wrestling and you have to make ends meet. So I would allow people to sponsor a wrestler on the show, and those people would make their money back on
autographs/pictures/etc. It is a good arrangment, because the promoter gets the talent, the talent gets another booking and the sponsor makes a nice chunk of
change. However, rarely, these sponsors are not going to use the same people every show because once a top name has been in the area, it’s hard to make as
much money back as you did the first time.
So leading up the 7/14 date, I would get calls from Luna asking what I had planned. Unfortunately at that time, Jac Sabboth, who was funding the shows at the
time, pulled one of his sabbatical acts. I was now left with the ball, but I scrambled to find finance for the show and luckily one person stepped up and
gave us a gift. If it wasn’t for that person, WSU would’ve probably shut down once Jac left. So I guess blame that person for all the WSU plugs you see on
DOI everyday!
After explaining everything to Luna, I told her we were going to do a double DVD taping, because I needed to make sure we could profit to continue going
along. Luna understood, and said she had no problem working extra. Of course we renegotiated her price, but instead of getting a little more money for 2
matches in one day, she said she’d take a little more money for 3 matches, thinking that her name value would help us. I’ll never forget that.
7/14/07 would be another big day for WSU. We ran a tournament to crown the first ever WSU Champion. Alicia would go over, I forget who, I want to say Taylor
Nicole, in her first round match. However, Luna came out and said that Alicia was her opponent for her first round match. Luna would get the win, with the
long-term plan now being that Alicia & Luna were tied 1-1 and there would be interest in a rubber match.
So eventually the finals of the tournament were set. It was a Four-Way Anything Goes “Uncensored” match. The “Uncensored” was an idea we were trying to push,
where anything goes all the time, and that you wouldn’t see DQ’s or Countouts. If people were paying for tickets or for DVDs, they would get a clear cut
winner every time, which is something we still do to this day.
So the finals were Alicia vs Luna vs Nikki Roxx vs Amy Lee. These four had a kick ass match. The wrestling was good, the brawling was insane (even going
outside the building, which always looks fun on DVD), and the four really hit hard. The end saw Luna lay out Nikki, only for Alicia to steal the pin. That
was done to add hype for the eventual Alicia vs Luna III match.
The title tournament came off well. Alicia was now champion. We had a direction and the company would be built around Alicia. It was a direction that worked
and Alicia would carry the company until her sabbatical from wrestling. Unlike other indy companies, the WSU championship would be defended all over, so
while most indy championships are defended once every six weeks, Alicia would be making anywhere from 4-6 title defenses a month. Of course this was done to
sell DVDs, but also to give credibility to that championship.
As I stated earlier, Luna Vachon was very friendly with Amy Lee. Luna also liked the two Missy’s, Missy Sampson and Missy Hyatt. Luna asked in exchange for
putting Alicia over, if I would allow her to have fun and team with Amy Lee. As she would describe to me, so eloquently, “let me and Amy team and we’ll be
the two most craziest cunts you ever saw.” How could I say no?
At that time, there was a tag team called the Diva Killaz, made up of Kayla Sparks and Miss Deville. I liked the idea of a female tag team, because in my head,
I knew I wanted to run WSU as if it was a real mens promotion, just with all womens wrestlers. I wanted a tag team division. I wanted everything to make
sense. So by having a real tag team, instead of WSU generated tag teams like the Soul Sisters, I thought that gave us a leg up. Plus I thought the Diva
Killaz were very athletic. They were green, but I thought they would grow.
So I figured if I put the Diva Killaz with “Satan’s Sisters”, the name Luna gave her team, I thought it would be a kickass match. I knew I wanted to go back
to Luna/Alicia, so Luna would be doing no more jobs until we got there, but I thought even by losing, as long as the match was good, the Diva Killaz would
come off brave and would come off as earning their stripes against two big ass bitches.
Well the match turned out .ing great, but for all the wrong reasons. Instead of selling a DVD of a nice put together match, I would have a match that
everyone wanted to see because word got out about how bad Luna Vachon .ed these two girls up. It put me in a tough position, because here I am, knowing
that if WSU is going to exist we are going to have to sell a lot of DVDs, but at the same time, I’m marketing a brutal beatdown. Not releasing this match on
DVD was not an option. WSU needed to make money to continue to operate. I always felt bad for the Diva Killaz, as they got a rough shake, but at the same
time, business must go on.
This DVD would be our biggest top seller and give WSU the notoriety for really being Uncensored. In the years after, other DVDs would outsell this DVD, but
“Satan’s Sisters Slaughterhouse” remains one of the biggest top selling WSU DVDs of all time. It was that show that gave WSU the momentum that said wow, they
are really doing something different there.
If you didn’t hear what happened, basically the match was Luna/Amy Lee w/Missy Sampson vs The Diva Killaz w/Liz Savage. I didn’t know it until after, but
apparently Missy and Liz Savage had some underlying personal issue. I remember hearing what it was, but right now I can’t remember. I think it was because
Liz Savage no sold either Missy Hyatt or Luna in the locker room, but I’m not 100%. Missy Sampson is one of the nicest people in the world, but I think when
she’s around certain people, Missy Sampson the wrestler really comes out. I think Missy will work with anyone, but whenever she was around either Amy or
Luna, she perhaps did go into bully mode a bit.
Satan’s Sisters w/Missy Sampson
So anyway, they had their match. I was there when they were calling the match, and Luna specifically said not to touch her neck because she was in pain. I
don’t know if Luna was on any meds that day, but I’m assuming she was not, because she didn’t ask for anything for her matches. Luna explained she just had a
rough four-way match with Amy/Nikki/Alicia, so she just wanted her neck protected. She wanted to be 100% ok for the next day, as she would be seeing her
grandson.
I can’t honestly tell you that me and Luna went back. I know what she did for WSU and I know some of the stuff she did for Frank Goodman’s USA Pro Wrestling.
Up to this point, I have heard some crazy Luna stories, but I never experienced it first-hand. A few people told me Luna would be hard to deal with, but I
never had a problem. The matches she had with Alicia at this point were great for my business. She treated Alicia awesome and both worked together. I would
later hear that the Diva Killaz thought this was a big plan, but I’m honestly telling you now, and I swear on the yankees and beer (I don’t believe in a
mythological bearded jew who walks on water and dresses like he’s ready for a keg party at a frathouse) that was never the case. The whole purpose of this
match was to get the Diva Killaz over by virtue of their work in the ring. I mean I booked them to be in the main event. If I didn’t believe they could be
successful for my business, why would I put them in that spot in the first place?
So the two teams were in the ring. I guess I could be an asshole and say you can get this DVD on WSUVideo.com, and no, not because I’m in pitch-mode, but you
really need to see this to understand. Or if you want to check out the match on Clickwrestle.com, then click here. Anyway, the match is going fine for 8 minutes or so. Amy & Luna are giving the Diva Killaz some offense and the Diva
Killaz are showing heart in the ring by fighting back and not giving up. However, and I never did get to talk to her 100% to get all the facts, either Miss
Deville forgot or had a brainfart, but she kicked Luna right in the back of her neck. Everyone watching the match from the locker room cringed, because it
was a stiff shot.
Listen, I don’t blame Miss Deville. Luna however did. Luna thought Miss Deville was trying to make a name for herself off of Luna. You have to remember Luna
was from a different era. Luna thought someone was trying to take her spot. Everything she was taught from the territory days immediately rushed to her head.
I don’t know Miss Deville at all personally, all I know from her is the times I had her on WSU shows. If I had to bet, I think it is a safe bet that Deville
wasn’t trying to hurt Luna. I truly believe she got caught up in the match. The match was a little stiff, so maybe Deville wanted to show she could hold her
own. However, the one spot Luna asked not to touch before the match….oh man.
Anyway, Luna went .ing nuts. The match was out of control. Stories of this match would spread quick and yes, it was good for WSU’s business, and I can
understand why the Diva Killaz would be upset on me profitting off of their misfortune, but instead of turning a negative into a positive, as I’ll soon
explain, this would be the match that killed the Diva Killaz.
So Luna went nuts and just beat the .ing shit out of Miss Deville and her partner. Luna would tell me later, that she lost it, but felt that Deville was
trying to shoot on her. I had to calm Luna down and say that wasn’t the case. Amy Lee, despite the character she plays in the ring, was also a voice of
reason, backing me up that the Diva Killaz weren’t like that. If you watch that match again, you’ll see Amy trying to keep it together, while Luna is going
nuts.
As I said, Missy Sampson is one of the nicest people around, and for what she did for Trent Acid, she should probably be sainted. But when she is in an
environment where she perhaps can get away with it, Missy could turn into a bully, especially if someone did something wrong. In Missy’s eyes, Liz Savage
.ed up, so while all this .ing craziness was going on, Missy beat the hell out of Liz Savage. The match was the female version of the Mass Transit
incident, without the blood.
Luna would continue to go insane, and would turn her attention to Kayla Sparks. Kayla told me before the match she had a head injury. I forget what type,
because it was so long ago. Well Luna thought if they weren’t worried about her neck, she wasn’t worried about the Diva Killaz ailments. Luna beat up Kayla
too. Eventually, Amy, who turned into the ring general, would throw some sort of finish together and pin both of the Diva Killaz. I mean looking back at it
now, I can’t imagine how the Diva Killaz must’ve felt. I know they were excited about Luna. It’s like meeting your child hero, and the person is a dick head.
Well they got meet one of their child hood heroes, and what did they get – the beating of their .ing lives and being called hairless cunts. Not exactly a
magical story to tell their grandchilden, I’d reckon.
After this massacre was over, Luna did this promo just destroying them and telling them to get the . out of the building. Like most promoters, I was half
watching what was going on, because I was settling up paydays with people, packing up, making sure the locker room was clean, etc. It wasn’t until someone,
and I forgot who, got me, that I saw that the match was no longer a match anymore.
One of the Diva Killaz dads, I forget which, said I should have stopped the match. Yea, that would’ve gotten over real well. Imagine having a “daddy
stoppage” in UFC? I don’t know if the Diva’s Killa dad knew pro wrestling, but most indy promoters have so much stuff going on, that they rarely have time to
watch their shows when it’s going on live. To be honest, I didn’t know what happened until I talked to everyone afterwards and until I saw the DVD myself to
make my own judgment.
The Diva Killaz rushed out of the building and got the . out of there, because they were afraid Luna was coming back for more. The reason they were afraid
is because Luna said on the mic she was going to kill “you two cunts” when she got backstage. Pretty good reason.
When Luna got backstage, it would be my first real test as the promoter of WSU to try to calm someone down. Luckily, with the help of Amy Lee, we calmed Luna
down. Eventually, Luna would calm down and apologize to me for putting me in this position. She did however crack a smile and say, “I’m sure you will sell a
shit load of DVDs now.” I had no clue what to think, whether she snapped to help business or because she was pissed, but I would say she was pissed first and
business was second.
The DVD that launched WSU
Luna did feel bad the next few days. She apologized to both of the Diva Killaz, but the Diva Killaz were so young and now shaking like Michael J. Fox that
they would never come back here. I think they may have done 1 or 2 more matches each, and then they were done. This incident ruined their careers. I
understand why they were so pissed and perhaps scared, but it’s what not kills us makes us stronger. Luna offered to work with them and put them over, but
the Diva Killaz wanted nothing to do with Luna from that point on. I guess you can’t blame them.
While I’m sure the Diva Killaz aren’t happy with the WSU letters, it is a shame, because I did offer to turn this all into an angle. Again, in wrestling,
when you have a negative, you turn it into a positive. That is why you see guys who have heat drop their stuff all the time to do business. Realism always
draws.
The Diva Killaz wanted nothing to do with it. It really sucks, because while they weren’t great, they had potential. They had a nice little thing going for
themselves, but after Luna destroyed them, they ran the . away from pro wrestling.
If you were Liz Savage you might look like this too if Luna was chasing you
Anyway, Luna was apologetic about everything afterwards, and as I said, called the Diva Killaz to apologize. Luna would admit to me that she was bi-polar and
sometimes was capable of snapping like this. Luna was great for my business. I know if the Diva Killaz are reading this, they will be pissed, but if it
wasn’t for that beatdown and that DVD selling like crazy, who knows if WSU would be alive today.
Luna would ask me about the next date, and I explained to her that I wouldn’t know yet until the DVD sales of this show came in, as I was using the money
from DVD sales to pay for the next show. She said ok and to let her know when I know what’s up.
Around this time, I want to say it was August of 2007, there were two conventions Luna was on. I would see her at the NY one, but I forget where the other
was, but I wasn’t at it anyway. I said what’s up to Luna at the NY one and we bullshitted for a bit. Later on that day, Luna would tell me that I had “some
racket going with these DVDs”. Luna said that a lot of fans were bringing her the Diva Killaz beatdown DVD for her to sign.
I would get a call from Luna after her next convention, but this wasn’t the Luna I was dealing with the for the past several months. Luna called me up
cursing, screaming and threatening to kill me if I didn’t give her a percentage of DVD sales. Apparently, at the next convention she did, people had more
DVDs for her to sign. I was trying to explain that if I didn’t make good money back on the DVDs, I couldn’t run anymore shows. She didn’t want to hear it. I
don’t know what she was on, but I was admittedly drunk, so I just hung up the phone on her. That pissed her off, and I would get a voicemail that I wouldn’t
consider flowery.
When it came to running a next date, my sponsor did not want to bring Luna back because he figured she was here twice already and just did a shit load of
conventions/signings in the area. It wasn’t a personal thing, it was a financial thing. He wanted to bring in Christy Hemme to wrestle Alicia. After my last
conversation with Luna, I didn’t bother calling to book her, as I felt she should apologize, as I’m not going to book someone who was threatening to kill me
for not giving her a cut on DVD sales.
When Luna heard that Christy Hemme was booked, she .ing exploded. To her, Christy Hemme was another Sable. She felt Hemme was stealing her spot in WSU.
She didn’t look at it as a business move, where Hemme would be here once, put over the champ and then maybe be brought back when she was scarce to this area,
she looked at it as “that cunt Christy Hemme stole my spot.”
I got another phone call from Luna, and again, it was cursing, screaming and death threats, this time for using Christy Hemme. I knew Luna was bi-polar.
Trust me, it did hurt me personally not to have Luna back as I did not want to scumbag her, but I’ve been around substances most of my adult life, and I know
it turns people into different things. WSU was too new. We were running only based on DVD sales. I couldn’t take a risk of Luna not getting on a flight, or
even worse showing up the show in crazy Luna mode, not gentle grandmother mode. I told Luna I can’t do the yelling game, and that just set her off more. Luna
would tell me to go have sex with myself, but not in those words. Those were her last words to me over a phone.
Again, I’ve been a booker before for several indy promotions before WSU, but I was never the promoter. I fell into WSU after Sabboth .ed up. I just kept
it rolling and decided it was worth doing. I never dealt with anything like this. I decided I would tell the people that I trusted about it, but wouldn’t
make it public. I knew Luna was bi-polar, so I just figured this was a phase and she’d get over it and then we’d have her back for Luna/Alicia III. I even
did an angle of “Who attacked Luna?” to keep her name alive on the show while she got better. Ironically, that was actually how we introduced Orsini/Martinez
into this company.
At this point, Amy Lee was caught in the middle. Luna would tell her that I was booking models now and how I should give her DVD percentages. I would tell
Amy the stuff Luna was saying over the phone. Amy just wanted to work. For a while, Amy would be the mediator, and again, would calm Luna down. I pitched the
whodunit angle to Amy to tell Luna and Amy thought it was a good idea too, as it kept Luna’s name alive and it shows we were dedicated to having her back.
Well, we never did get to do an Amy/Luna vs Orsini/Martinez feud. Nor did I ever get to build up my Luna/Alicia III title match. Luna would retire at the end of the year. I never talked to her personally to find out why, but I always thought if she wasn’t bi-polar, she would’ve never retired and would’ve done the matches here. Just reading interviews she did after her retirement, you know she had a lot of fire and wanted to mold the next generation of women wrestlers. If I have any regrets with my dealings in the wrestling business, it is not reaching out to Luna during this time in late 2007, but at the same time I didn’t feel I was wrong either. Come on, you tell me one indy promoter that gives a cut of their DVDs to any talent. It’s unheard of.
As time went on, WSU grew, and Luna would go to work as a tow truck driver, a job she enjoyed. I would hear through the grapevine that Luna would ask about WSU. I would tell mutual friends that I would not be opposed to bringing Luna back. I figured with Orsini now as champion, we could bring Luna back and tie up and make some money with the whodunit angle. Alicia was gone, but Orsini/Luna would be a good title fight.
I went to call Luna sometime in late 2008 about doing something, but the number was changed. I talked to Amy Lee about it, and apparently Amy hadn’t heard from her in a while either.
I always watned to bring Luna back here, and I’m not saying that because she died. Again, in late 2009 I had an idea for Luna. As I was about to call Eric Simms to set it up, as I figured I’d let Eric deal with her because all of his talents always get on planes, I saw a Youtube video of Luna going .ing nuts and beating Eric up at some convention. In fact here are the Youtube videos of it:
I have worked too hard on WSU and sacrificed a lot of time to build WSU up. I wasn’t going to become the next Youtube joke. How can you get respect from your locker room if you had a video like that up there? I don’t mind being challenged privately on any business issue, but you don’t need the world to see your business like that.
Also, I was assuming after seeing that, that Eric Simms and Luna weren’t exactly on the best of terms.
So again, I waited almost another year. Again this is no bullshit or trying to garner sympathy or anything like that. I am admitting I wanted Luna for business reasons and because I was soft and wanted to give her another payday out of respect for helping this company get started. I figured I’d deal with any headaches that came up.
Well as I was thinking of this, the news came out that Luna had a house fire. Obviously, wrestling shows were not going to be on her mind. I waited two weeks and thought that maybe for our 11/6 show, we could bring Luna in and have fans bring her merchandise and other stuff from Luna’s career. Luna lost a lot of her personal career belongings in that fire, so I thought we could do a Luna charity drive.
I asked Eric Simms if he was on speaking terms with her. He said he was, and would talk to her about it. I put in a call to Amy Lee, and pitched her an angle where she’d work with Luna as a tag team again, since I didn’t know what Luna would do physically. Amy was excited. I brought her name up to the people that pitch ideas for WSU. However, it got back to me that Luna wasn’t herself again. I tried to get her number on my own this time, but apparently it wasn’t working. I then felt I’d let Eric do his magic, and if we can get her, we can get her, but I felt it would’ve been cool for WSU to give back to Luna after everything Luna did to make this company.
I decided I wasn’t going to push too hard though, because after all, I know she was through a lot. The way I left it with Eric, I’d hear back. Of course I was anxious a bit about if she’d show up and get on the plane, but I felt if Eric was handling that stuff, I wouldn’t have to.
I have been going through my own stuff in my life, so I left it that if I heard back from Eric great, if not, no big deal.
I got the call 9am Friday from Amy Lee that Luna had passed. It is not something I wanted to break on DOI. I was hoping Amy got bullshit info. Alas, it wasn’t bullshit, and it was on all the websites by 5PM. I told a few others on the WSU roster who were close to Luna, like Alicia and Angel Orsini, who both didn’t want to believe it either. I was hoping Amy was wrong, but Amy had every detail of this story at 9AM. I was just hoping someone was .ing with her, but the story was true.
As you have probably gotten from this story, my relationship with Luna was purely business although we did have a few personal talks over a 5-6 month period. Obviously I’m writing this much and have sacrificed a lot of personal time over the last 3 plus years for WSU. When I walk away from all of this, I will look back fondly on Luna Vachon and what she did for my company. It was Luna that made Alicia and the WSU title credible. It was Luna that sold me a shit load of DVDs that enabled me to continue to run shows. I got to experience both sides of Luna and I’d rather wish AIDS on my worst enemy than having to deal with bad Luna. I am thankful for everything Luna Vachon did for womens wrestling and of course personally, for WSU.
Luna Vachon was the last of a dying breed, a breed that people on the WSU roster want to see live on. When you look back on womens wrestling history, Luna Vachon is always a name that will be brought up. Luna didn’t have an easy way to the top and she didn’t have a great way down either. However, as would be the case, she would always keep on fighting and always let it be known that she wasn’t a pushover. Professional wrestling truly lost one of the greats this past Friday. Rest in Peace Luna.
Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com